Because I’d been involved in
amateur theatricals in our local community my church board asked if I could
advise them on what kind of stage lighting to bring more dynamism to their
services. Well, I was happy to tell them that it wasn’t as difficult as they
thought it might be to set up and they only need three basic light sources. The
first one is the front lighting. To focus the lighting for a worship service,
you need a straightforward white-front wash to illuminate the whole stage from
the front, preferably at two particular points. You can use conventional
lights either with clear white light or softened with gels. Either way it’s important to have your church stage filled with a
mixed lighting that appears to come from different angles.
The second one is the set
lighting which should be able to adapt to any set design your church stage
needs, be it blank walls, or a backdrop of any sort.
Blank walls and other nearly
flat forms will be uplit easily and as the primary means of illumination and if
required you can add moving light to add texture. With or without white light,
fully or partially, it’s great to also add LED lights inside the set to
highlight any 3D aspects of the design lighting.
Now that you’ve got your front
and set church stage lighting sorted you just need to think about the actual
backlighting which when you use haze for example can bring a great look for
camerawork. Of course one of the most important things about lighting is to
bring out the person, eg the preacher, at the front. So remember, bring down
all three of your lighting set ups and use a follow spot that will move with
the main person so that the eyes of the congregation will always be fixed upon
him. Finally, don’t forget the lights need to be co-ordinated for effective church stage lighting and for that you
will need a lighting mixer console and somebody who knows how to use it.